Television started as a powerful community-building force. If you had a TV set, you would watch what was broadcast, discuss it among the family at home, and also with the wider context of friends, relatives, neighbours and colleagues. If you encountered someone else with a TV set, the immediate assumption would be that that you…
Whew… New Class Blogs are Up (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) The first week of classes is over, and the university modem pool, which was down for about a month, is finally back up. So I can finally return to my habit of blogging a bit after I’ve put the kids to bed. My big project of late…
In short… Someone wrote a really DUMB web scraper, and harassed me with it. —Peter Seebach —Can they really be this stupid? Peter Seebach, who happens to host blogs.setonhill.edu, also hosts a variety of sites dealing with interactive fiction. He recently got an e-mail from the Entertainment Software Association that threatens him with legal action…
Thousands of irreplaceable books were feared lost or damaged in a fire at one of Germany’s most precious libraries, though some 6,000 historical works – including a 1534 Martin Luther Bible – were saved by a chain of people who spirited them away from the flames, officials said Friday. —Jochen Weisigel —Rare Books Feared Lost…
So how do you start? Where do you begin? I start my graduate seminars with “intellectual autobiography.” I ask my students to write a couple of pages about who they are, how they came to where they sit in my room. We share these stories of who we are and how we came to be.…
It is the one great weakness of journalism as a picture of our modern existence, that it must be a picture made up entirely of exceptions. We announce on flaring posters that a man has fallen off a scaffolding. We do not announce on flaring posters that a man has not fallen off a scaffolding.…
Long ago, I realized that computer labs aren’t designed for students writing English lit papers. You may have heard about a revolutionary new development in communications technology. [N]o wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It’s so easy to use even a child can operate it. Just lift its…
Though, I must admit, blogging is not only extremely addictive–must be the subliminal messages, but also fun. Where else could you find a community of writers and readers that can be as wide or as narrow as you gear your works to be? And where else can you start controversy and discourse short of a…
After a week, Rubel — a blogging aficionado and practitioner who writes about the narrow topic of how blogs and participatory journalism are affecting the practice of public relations — says he definitely lacked the depth of knowledge of current events gained in a normal week. “I felt a little naked,” he says, having received…
Thirty-five years after computer scientists at UCLA linked two bulky computers using a 15-foot gray cable, testing a new way for exchanging data over networks, what would ultimately become the Internet remains a work in progress. —Anick Jesdanun —Web Turns 35, but Still Work in Progress (AP/My Way) Similar:Carnegie Science Center's Guitar ExhibitThis summer, I’m a…
It’s not the online version of an established, well-researched traditional encyclopedia. Instead, Wikipedia is a do-it-yourself encyclopedia, without any credentials. “As a high school librarian, part of my job is to help my students develop critical thinking skills,” Stagnitta wrote. “One of these skills is to evaluate the authority of any information source. The Wikipedia…
Somerby’s comments would seem like blasphemy in the so-called “blogosphere,” but many online writers and observers agree that blogs, with a handful of exceptions, have had virtually no impact on the national conversation, mainstream media coverage of politics or large, orchestrated events like the parties’ quadrennial nominating conventions. —Kevin Canfield —Impact of blogs seen as…
The “Game Development Scholarship for Women” will help cover costs for women attending the Guildhall, an 18-month certificate program at SMU designed by noted game developers. Tuition for the six-term program is $37,000. —School offering women’s gaming scholarship (CNN/Reuters) Similar:My View: What will you do with an English degree? PlentyI just found my first reading assignment…AcademiaEnjoying…
“Beam Me Up Scotty…One Last Time” is the quite-serious title to a three-day event at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel billed as a farewell to the actor who, as fiery Montgomery Scott, ran the U.S.S. Enterprise’s engineering deck on Trek’s 1966-69 flagship series and six big-screen adventures. —Joal Ryan —Scotty Says Goodbye (E! Online) I managed to…
British university students spend nearly three times as much on drink as they spend on books, according to a survey by the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is compiling a student-living index. —Social Studies (Globe and Mail) Part of a cornucopia of minutia, pointed out by Katja. Similar:Intimations of MortalityPlato, Montaigne, Pascal—those were the …CultureThesis Reminders…
You know the strategy by now. Hundreds of right-wing think tanks pound the media with press releases. Newspapers and cable TV stations smell a conflict — always a safe bet for increasing circulations and ratings — and bring in the “think tank” experts for interviews. They pound away, repeating the same stock phrases over and…
Kerry needed to appear on The Daily Show because the American media itself has become ridiculous and he needs the endorsement of the jokers, not political pundits. The cable news shows that Jon Stewart mocks have become absurdly partisan. The print press is going through a period of self-flagellation as newspaper after newspaper apologizes and…
Our genes are basically the same now, as they were a hundred thousand years ago, as evidenced from the accepted theory that the more distant surviving twigs of our family tree branched off at about that time. Thus, however much concrete or how many people I am surrounded by, in my heart and in my…
But now, the reality of exchange rates and international income gaps has spawned a virtual version of the real-world relationship between rich and poor countries. While players in wealthier countries casually drop hundreds of dollars to buy their way into better positions in the games — or out of tedious parts of the games —…
Games where kids chase each other – tag or even cops and robbers – are generally banned in Natomas Unified’s elementary schools. No grabbing or pushing is allowed. At Natomas Park, students can only toss and catch a football – tackling or blocking isn’t permitted. But the no-contact rule applies beyond the grade-school gridiron. During…